starlaboceancurrents-juniata.docVIP

Star Lab: Ocean Currents The Reality of Sending a Message in a Bottle Purpose: To examine the nature of ocean currents, what causes them and the effects they have on the Earth. Standards Met: 3.1.7 A, B, C; 3.2.7 B; 3.5.7 C, D Introduction: OCEAN CURRENTS Early seafarers found that they had two different forces to contend with in their explorations: wind and ocean currents. Their large sailing ships did not tack well into the wind, and so they had to chart the prevailing wind directions and plot routes that would take best advantage of them. Ocean currents -- massive streams of moving water -- could speed them on their way if they took advantage of currents moving the way they wanted to go; or they could impede their progress if the current opposed them. Fortunately, surface currents and winds tend to move in the same direction. There are many variations from this general scheme, however, as Benjamin Franklin discovered from his Nantucket sea captain acquaintance. The boundaries of ocean currents can be quite sharp and the wise sea captain pays close attention to their whereabouts. This of course led to an early interest in charting ocean currents that persists to the present time. Our interest now extends not only to the currents that exist near the ocean surface, but also to those that ply the depths of the sea. A number of methods have been devised to measure ocean currents, and these may be divided into two classes: direct and indirect. In direct measurements, the motion of the water is monitored either by a device that is fixed with respect to the ocean bottom or by a device that floats with the current. In the former, a buoy may be anchored to the bottom and the flow of water past it is measured and recorded. Given a sufficient number of such buoys (or the relocation of the buoy to a number of different sites), the measured directions of water flow can be plotted and compiled into a general picture of the extent and direction of the current. Floating